Verizon has best cellphone service in Los Angeles - study

Many cellphone users have a long list of gripes, including dropped calls or texts that never go through. A new scientific survey claims to have determined which mobile carrier has the best cellphone service in Los Angeles.

A research firm called RootMetrics sent drivers armed with cellphone testing kits all over the city. The phones made calls, sent texts, and used up data indoors and outdoors, day and night.

For the fourth year in a row, Verizon scored best overall in Los Angeles with a score of 96, AT&T was in second with 93, T-Mobile earned 89, and Sprint was way below the competition at 75.

T-Mobile scored best for text messaging, but Verizon is tops when it comes to data usage.

As for dropped calls, Sprint is by far the worst. Sprint's calls dropped 2.9 percent of the time, more than AT&T's 1.1 percent, T-Mobile's 0.9 percent and Verizon's 0.6 percent.